The Worst of Road Signs

[OCGuy81]

Supposedly, from what I researched (had the boys in the lab working overtime on this one!) the reason for the 14 MPH speed limit on the Disneyland grounds are as follows.

1) If it was posted at 15 MPH the trams would require to have seat belts per the California Vehicle Code

2) If the speed limit was at 15, Disney couldn't use their own security, , they'd have to have deputized security and/or Anaheim police.

Interesting.  Not sure if that applies to oddball speed limits on campuses and some of the other photos we've posted.

[Android]

Interesting. I'd always thought and assumed that oddball speed limit signs were solely to draw your attention to them out of their weirdness.  I don't know if they exactly qualify for "Worst" of road signs though, maybe there should be a dedicated topic just for speed limit signs not divisible by 5.

[agentsteel53]

The Riverside MBTA station in Newton has this in the parking lot:

[6 mph]

Is that speed limit for cars or for the Green Line trolleys?

It is for the trolley.  I have seen that sign in many other places on the Green Line.  I have also seen a 3mph variant with the same layout.

[6a]

12.5 mph is roughly 20 km/h and 31 mph is 50 km/h.  Don't know if that's the reasoning, weird as it may be, but perhaps there are secret Canadians afoot trying to impose their filthy communist system on us

No clue about the others, though.

[Brandon]

12.5 mph is roughly 20 km/h and 31 mph is 50 km/h.  Don't know if that's the reasoning, weird as it may be, but perhaps there are secret Canadians afoot trying to impose their filthy communist French system on us

No clue about the others, though.

FIFY.   

[empirestate]

Wickenburg, AZ: not sure if road sign...or abstract art of desert prairie chicken??

[agentsteel53]

I like that sign.  I can intuitively figure out very quickly what each lane does, including the implication of a possible U-turn.

also, no Clearview.  Excellent.

[NE2]

The button copy posse is not going to be happy...

[Riverside Frwy]

I like that sign.  I can intuitively figure out very quickly what each lane does, including the implication of a possible U-turn.

also, no Clearview.  Excellent.

I agree, definitely one of the most original sign layouts and design I've seen in awhile.

[vtk]

Wickenburg, AZ: not sure if road sign...or abstract art of desert prairie chicken??

The basic concept of that sign is innovative, but the execution is a bit off.  The diagram should be a little smaller compared to the route markers and destinations, which should have their own adequate spaces to either side. Also, the destinations should be in mixed case, not the large-initial-caps treatment used for the directions.

Finally, I'm not sure if I'm pro or con on this, but I notice roundabout signage tends to use pointy sticks instead of proper arrows.  Might it just be following European designs too closely?

[US71]

Paris, TX

[hbelkins]

Paris, TX

I like that sign. What's "worst" about it?

[Scott5114]

It is arguably difficult to parse at speed and is silent on which numbered highways go where. It seems fairly effective to me, though; I wouldn't have much of a problem with it.

[architect77]

I love both of these diagramaticals

[US71]

I like that sign. What's "worst" about it?

Some people think it's too confusing.

[hbelkins]

And some people don't like Clearview. 

[Android]

While I "hate" Clearview most of the time, I won't let that be the ONLY reason I'd classify a sign as "worst" - poor formatting of it counts though.  But I thought that Mt Pleasant/Paris/Commerce sign looked pretty good, except it had no shields on it. I think it's better than that US60-93 sign before it. 

[architect77]

Opinions?

[corco]

That is one tall sign

[wriddle082]

There's a sign on some side street in Somerville or Chelsea or Lynn or some other nearby city north of Boston that I always see out the window of commuter trains that's a Speed Limit 11 I believe. Looks fully standard.

And back in Virginia, the entrance and exit roads to Busch Gardens are signed at 18 mph.

And in Nashville, the speed limit on the road that goes around the Opryland Hotel/Convention Center is 24 mph.  I can't remember whether or not that also applies to the road around Opry Mills as well.

[Ian]

Opinions?
<GA signs>

I actually quite like those.

[Brandon]

Opinions?
{signs}

Tall, but very effective.  The HOV part could stand out a bit more though.

[Scott5114]

On the topic of odd speed limit signs, how about a 9½ MPH? That's posted on a storage facility gate right by my apartment...

[J N Winkler]

Wickenburg, AZ: not sure if road sign...or abstract art of desert prairie chicken??

The basic concept of that sign is innovative, but the execution is a bit off.  The diagram should be a little smaller compared to the route markers and destinations, which should have their own adequate spaces to either side. Also, the destinations should be in mixed case, not the large-initial-caps treatment used for the directions.

I agree with both of these criticisms.

Finally, I'm not sure if I'm pro or con on this, but I notice roundabout signage tends to use pointy sticks instead of proper arrows.  Might it just be following European designs too closely?

As it happens, that particular design is actually not European--it is Australian.  I suspect it is borrowed from the Queensland MUTCD.  This particular sign is part of Arizona DOT's ongoing experimentation with different types of roundabout diagrammatic.  For the I-17 Happy Valley Road interim interchange (which, IIRC, has since been removed), Arizona DOT used a fairly plain-vanilla "bishop's crozier" diagrammatic with filled-barb arrows, similar to what is now shown in the 2009 MUTCD as the standard design.  Later, as part of the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway extension (Power-University contract), Arizona DOT experimented with stub-arm diagrammatics similar to those used in Britain.  (Stub arm is the term of art, at least in Britain, for "pointy sticks.")  Then, possibly as a result of an increasing number of multilane roundabouts being built, Arizona DOT started experimenting with diagrammatics having explicit lane assignment, borrowing from Australian models.  The style of diagrammatic shown in this picture is used not just in Queensland but also in Western Australia--however, I don't know if it has been nationally standardized in the Australian MUTCD or Austroads traffic engineering guidance.  I have seen Arizona DOT sign design sheets for Australian-style diagrammatics which use Clearview.

I consider the design of the stub arms on the faux-Australian diagrammatics to be unsatisfactory.  It looks like they use a 60° chamfer, which is too narrow and in Britain is associated with the obsolete Anderson motorway signs.  For the Loop 202 diagrammatic signs, the ADOT consultant designer clearly went to some trouble to find a copy of Chapter 7 of the (British) Traffic Sign Manual (the British direction sign design bible) and to specify a 90° chamfer in the plans.

Loop 202 diagrammatic (unfortunately, StreetView does not cover the ramps):

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Phoenix,+AZ&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Phoenix,+Maricopa,+Arizona&ll=33.438908,-111.6546&spn=0.004656,0.009645&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=33.439127,-111.654911&panoid=ANjqXMPcCq2FuusskkC48g&cbp=12,167.39,,0,3.18

Loop 202 Power-University was done under TRACS H578201C.  The British-style diagrammatics were used at the Brown and McKellips exits.

There are other examples of the Australian-style diagrammatics on a recently improved length of SR 89A in Cottonwood, just northwest of the SR 260 junction.  Unfortunately StreetView in this area is currently useless since it shows the roundabouts half-built, with no signing work done.  The intersections converted to roundabouts include Avenida Centerville, Valley View Rd., Cement Plant Rd., Clarkdale Pkwy, Lisa St./Lincoln Dr. and the work was done under TRACS H412901C.

[corco]

There are other examples of the Australian-style diagrammatics on a recently improved length of SR 89A in Cottonwood, just northwest of the SR 260 junction.  Unfortunately StreetView in this area is currently useless since it shows the roundabouts half-built, with no signing work done.  The intersections converted to roundabouts include Avenida Centerville, Valley View Rd., Cement Plant Rd., Clarkdale Pkwy, Lisa St./Lincoln Dr. and the work was done under TRACS H412901C.

You mean these?